Confusion surrounds energy bill

June 18, 2003|The Morning Call

On June 2 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers paid for a huge ad in The Morning Call. The ad was designed to scare Pennsylvanians into believing that the energy bill currently before the U.S. Senate (S.14, "The Energy Policy Act of 2003") could cost them "billions of dollars" in higher electric bills or taxes. The Senate bill is bad, but not for the reasons claimed in the ad.

The bill gives away jaw-dropping sums to the aging nuclear and fossil-fuel industries, giving them an unfair advantage over fledgling renewable energy companies. Would renewable energy be as "costly" as this ad claims if the $1.76 billion bestowed on the nuclear power industry in the Senate's bill went instead to the renewable energy industry?

The taxes and penalties that the ad spoke of would be a remote possibility only if companies failed to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards that require electric companies to generate at least 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources.

Ask your senators to support Renewable Portfolio Standards, but without feeding the fossil-fuel dinosaurs with subsidies and tax breaks.